


Kindred Opponents

by TorScrawls



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt/Comfort, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 19:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TorScrawls/pseuds/TorScrawls
Summary: Matt never thought that he would get involved with the Avengers, but when he does it’s just as chaotic as he feared it would be.When the sun is up, Matt Murdock works on a lawsuit against Stark Industries; when the sun goes down, Daredevil teams up with the Avengers. Will Matt be able to keep his two lives separate? Will he be able to stop the criminal organization threatening the safety of New York City? One thing is for sure; if he makes some friends along the way, it’s not by choice.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written as part of Marvel Big Bang 2018. 
> 
> Thank you [goss](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16582172) for the absolutely wonderful artwork!!! You have to chek it out!
> 
> Many thanks to [Lets_call_me_Lily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lets_call_me_Lily/profile) and [Ech](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ech/profile) for being amazing betas!

The man on top of the building in front of him has a bow in his hand. A  _bow._  Matt couldn't help but give an incredulous scoff at this realization. First ninjas and ancient secret organizations, and now archers crouching on rooftops. What could possibly come next?

As if on cue, a deep rumbling thunder rolled in from the west. Matt furrowed his brow. Just moments ago, there had been no hint in the air of a storm approaching, yet now he could feel the pressure change by the second. Matt could sense a shape moving within the storm, a vaguely human form flying through the clouds with no apparent outside aid.

Matt sighed as he realized that he had unintentionally ended up in the middle of an Avenger mission. He debated turning around to focus his efforts on something else, but he couldn't very well leave without investigating what was going on first. If the Avengers were active in Hell's Kitchen, then he needed to know why.

Matt kept his head down and stayed in the shadows as he closed in on the building in front of him; the house contained a person pacing across the ground floor, and someone hiding on the floor above in fear. The whole building seemed to be some sort of lab or research facility, with rows upon rows of desks, labs and storage rooms.

"Hey! You! Get out of here!"

Matt didn't turn around as he heard repulsor jets closing in, a sound he had become familiar with previously at an event hosted by Tony Stark. Sure enough, within seconds he was face to face with the billionaire in question, who was encased in his trademark armor.

"Did you hear me, horn-man? You have to get out of here, it's dangerous," the suit in front of him said in a metallic version of Stark's voice.

"I'm not going anywhere," Matt stated in the gruff tone he used to conceal his voice during his outings as Daredevil. He started walking towards the house again.

Stark extended a hand and placed it on his chest, effectively blocking his way forward towards the building. "Don't engage. We have reason to believe that a man inside, a criminal named David Marcus, might release dangerous chemicals in the building any minute."

Matt tensed up at this information. So the person on the ground floor was a known criminal and if the building was flooded with harmful chemicals while the person hiding on the second floor was still inside… "There's a civilian in there."

"No, there's not. I did a thermal scan of the whole building; the only person in there is the criminal," Stark said, keeping his hand on Matt's chest. Matt tilted his head and listened; the heartbeat on the second floor was still fast and scared, though the person hiding seemed to have avoided detection from the criminal so far. And apparently from the Avengers as well.

"There is still a civilian in there," Matt repeated, enunciating each word and taking a step back to get the hand off his chest. Stark lowered his hand but stood his ground, still blocking Matt's way to the building.

"Listen here bondage, let the professionals handle this," Stark said in a condescending tone and Matt narrowed his eyes in annoyance as the other continued talking. "We've been tracking this guy for a long time, and this is the perfect chance for us to finally figure out what his goal is. To do that we first have to see what he's after, capisce? Two birds with one stone and all that."

"By standing back and watching as he breaks the law?" Matt asked with raised eyebrows.

"Hey, watch it! That's my building he's broken into, you know. We're trying to make the best out of the situation here."

"Then it's also your employee currently hiding on the second floor. All alone. You're just going to abandon them?"

"There's no one in there. As I said, we scanned the whole building," Stark said and Matt could hear the increasing annoyance in his voice. "You know what? We don't have time for this, there's some highly volatile substances in there and—"

Matt took a step in Stark's direction and cut the other off. "And you're letting the criminal roam around freely?!"

"As I said," Stark said in a voice that clearly let Matt hear his gritted teeth even through the armor. "We have it under control. We're about to close down the building to make sure that there's no chance of toxins spreading outside."

"And inside?" Matt growled, trying to keep his rising anger under control.

"Well, that's Marcus's own responsibility, isn't it?"

"Not if they aren't alone in there."

"Are you even listening to me? We checked. They're alone."

"Yeah, sure," Matt said in an exasperated tone, taking a small step back. Stark nodded at Matt's apparent surrender before turning around to face the building in front of them while speaking to someone else through a comm in his suit. Matt checked again to make sure that Stark was still not paying attention before backing up further, into the shadows of a nearby building.

Matt slowly made his way down the length of the building, keeping as quiet as possible and sticking to the shadows while listening to where the Avengers were located, waiting for a window of opportunity. When it presented itself, Matt rounded a corner and took off down the street, going straight for a side door in the building.

He was halfway down the street when he heard Stark's voice talking into his comm, "Okay, let's seal this place up. Marcus shouldn't notice anything from inside, but be quick about it. We don't want anyone or any _thing_ to be able to exit the building."

Matt swore and broke into a run, no longer caring if he was seen as he sprinted down the narrow street. He was a couple of meters from the door when he heard Stark's voice again, this time sounding angry as he hissed into the comm, "Damnit! Someone stop Daredevil! He's gonna ruin the whole plan!"

Matt ignored the shouted answers and the pounding of footsteps behind him, knowing that they wouldn't reach him in time. He kicked open the door and entered the building, hearing the Avengers discussing what to do and blaming each other for letting him inside the building and compromising the mission. The conversation ended in an agreement to stand back and monitor what happened while hoping that Matt didn't alert Marcus. Matt couldn't care less about their mission; his focus was on saving the innocent civilian trapped in the house.

Having said so, he still tried to move as quietly as possible on the first floor of the building, keeping out of sight of Marcus, who was still pacing on the ground floor. He miraculously didn't seem to have heard the sound the door made as it connected with the wall when it swung open. Marcus seemed to be completely absorbed in a phone call as he paced across the floor.

"I'm telling you, I can't find it! I'm not a damn scientist! How am I supposed to know what it looks like?!"

Matt quickly took stock of the floor plan and started making his way towards the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could.

"There's a hundred boxes here! Be more specific! Someone's definitely called the cops by now!" Marcus screamed into his phone and kicked at a box. Matt winced as he heard glass rattle from inside it, but nothing seemed to break. Matt only hoped that the box didn't contain any of those highly volatile substances that Stark had been talking about.

When he arrived on the second floor, Matt immediately located the civilian hiding behind something reflective, making the sounds in the room bounce back from it wildly. A glass wall. Matt furrowed his brow in confusion at the strange choice of hiding spot, but he knew that panic meant people made strange decisions.

Matt crouched down and inched closer to where the person was hiding. He could sense that they were looking right at him and he did his best to smile reassuringly as he approached them. Matt didn't want to risk talking, since the man on the floor below could easily hear them, so he made a shushing gesture with one hand and placed the other on the person's shoulder and—

A loud scream ruptured the silence and Matt flinched back.

"Who's there?" The civilian's voice was loud and scared and Matt held his breath, listening, but the pacing and talking from downstairs had stopped.

Matt raised his hands in what he hoped was a calming manner and spoke in a firm but reassuring voice, "I'm here to help. You have to be quiet, or—"

"Who are you? What's going on?" The civilian interrupted him in an increasingly hysterical voice.

"I know you're here somewhere!" The sudden shout from downstairs made both Matt and the civilian freeze. In the relative silence that followed Matt could hear Marcus moving towards the stairs with heavy footsteps. He could also hear the thundering heartbeat of the person in front of him and their scared, fast, breaths.

"What's your name?" Matt asked in a rushed voice, trying to catch the person's attention and divert it from the sounds of Marcus moving around downstairs— no doubt looking for the source of the screaming.

The person in front of him gulped down a couple of breaths and breathed out a shaky, "What?"

Matt heard Marcus start to make his way up the stairs and kept his voice as calm as possible as he answered. "My name is Daredevil. What's yours?"

"It's— It's Ava," the woman said in a shaky voice, but Matt was pleased to find her breathing a bit more stable, if still too fast.

"Okay, Ava. You're going to be fine," Matt said to her as he rose to his feet, facing the stairs and the approaching footsteps, "Just stay where you are and keep quiet."

Ava didn't answer, but Matt could sense her pressing herself even tighter against the glass wall.

"Where are you?!" Marcus screamed as he took the last couple of steps and arrived on the second floor, stopping in front of where Matt now stood. "Who the fuck are you?"

Matt didn't answer, but he immediately took notice of the sound of a steady and strong heartbeat, the smell of sweat, and the telltale heat of anger.

No weapons and no armor, but physically strong and seriously pissed off.

Matt didn't have any time to think of a strategy before he had to duck out of the way of a powerful swing that displaced enough air that the arm seemed to stretch in front of him.

Matt blocked another blow aimed at his head and brought his knee up into Marcus' sternum in the same motion, knocking him back.

The brief window of time this created allowed him to listen to what was happening outside his immediate surroundings.

Captain America's clipped and authoritative tone came through easily now: "I see movement on the second floor. Daredevil's engaged the villain. Change of plan, folks — let's move in."

Matt felt relieved that the Avengers would arrive and ensure Ava's safety, even if they were the people that almost put her in danger in the first place.

A sudden movement brought his attention back to the man in front of him as Marcus crouched and picked up a rectangular object from the ground. A dropped binder?

Marcus pulled his arm back and aimed straight for Matt, who readied himself to deflect it, only to freeze in surprise as the object appeared to bloom out into countless parts as it soared through the air. It took him a precious second to realize that it was papers; fluttering free from the binder and spreading through the air.

The momentary distraction meant that Matt didn't notice Marcus moving until he seemingly materialized in the middle of the fluttering papers— delivering a swift punch to Matt's stomach which pushed the air out of his lungs and forced him to his knees.

Before he had the opportunity to draw breath, Marcus pushed him over and stomped down on Matt's thigh with enough force to make him grit his teeth to keep from crying out, no doubt leaving him with what would surely be a blooming bruise and a limp for the next couple of days.

Matt forced himself to suck in a small breath and grabbed Marcus' leg, twisting hard and managing to topple him to the ground. He gave a shout as he fell and Matt used the momentum to roll on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

He heard a low whistle behind him.

"Not bad, devil-man," Tony Stark said as he approached— Matt could sense Captain America and the archer from the roof, the man he guessed to be Hawkeye, entering behind him.

"You're late to the party," Matt growled.

"Nah, you seem to have it handled," Stark said even as he deployed some form of handcuffs from his suit that fastened themselves around Marcus' wrists before tightening, allowing Matt to release his hold and sit back on the ground. A sudden mechanical whirr was emitted from the location of Stark's face, and when he spoke again it was much louder and less mechanical. Stark must have raised his faceplate. "You okay?"

"Yes," Matt said shortly. "Focus on her instead," Matt said with a nod towards the woman still hidden behind the glass wall, huddled against it as if it could protect her.

"What are you—" Hawkeye said before stopping short and drawing a sharp breath. "Jesus. Guys, there's someone here."

"What? No there isn't. I scanned," Stark said in a tone that communicated as much annoyance as it did arrogance.

"Well, apparently you didn't scan well enough," Captain America said as he crouched in front of the civilian. "Hello, I'm Steve Rogers and I'm here to help. Are you hurt?"

The woman immediately started crying. "W-w-what i-is goi-going on?"

"Oh," Hawkeye breathed out as he crouched beside Steve. "You're blind."

It clicked for Matt. The scared shout when he placed a hand on her shoulder, the inability to grasp what was going on, and the choice to hide behind a glass wall. Matt cursed himself, how could  _he, of all people,_  not have realized that she was blind?

"Hey, it's okay now," Steve said in a calming voice. "You're safe. We're the Avengers and we won't let anything happen to you. Can you tell me what happened?"

The woman reached out a shaking hand and Steve covered it with two of his. "I- it was just an ordinary day at work. Suddenly everyone was screaming and the alarm was going off," the woman took a shuddering breath before she continued. "People were running everywhere and before I knew it I was alone."

Stark suddenly snapped his fingers and spoke up. "A glass wall! She was hiding behind a glass wall! That's why my thermal scan didn't pick up on her heat signature."

"But you said scanned the whole building?" Hawkeye asked.

"Well, my thermal scanners work well enough through ordinary walls, not so much for ones made of glass."

Matt could hear Steve continue talking to the scared woman as he got to his feet and tested his right leg. It hurt, but he could walk.

Matt sensed Steve lean towards Hawkeye and whisper, "He's hurt."

"Hey," Hawkeye said as Matt limped past where the group was standing. "Hey! We have great medical facilities at the tower, what do you say?"

"Is this some form of apology?" Matt muttered. "No thanks."

"It's not an apology!" Stark called after him. "You still ruined our plan, you know?"

"Whatever," Matt grumbled, not stopping. "Take care of the civilian."

He could hear Stark muttering something about how the respect for the Avengers should have increased after they fixed the Chitauri invasion, and decided to ignore him.

Hawkeye rose to his feet and approached him. "You were right. Sorry we didn't listen to you."

Matt stopped and angled his head to listen. The man in front of him was being sincere. Matt did his best to swallow down his anger as he replied, "It's okay. We all did what we thought was best."

"True," Hawkeye said with a shrug.

The smattering of rain outside reminded Matt of the sudden storm from before, and how it didn't seem to have fully arrived. "Where's your flying friend?"

"Who? …Thor?" Hawkeye asked and Matt nodded. "Well, he's… stealth operations aren't exactly his forte, so we sent him home."

"You put a god in timeout?" Matt asked incredulously.

"Well, that's one way to put it," Hawkeye said with a noticeable smile in his voice. "By the way, how did you know that she was in here?" he asked with a nod towards the woman who was currently being helped to her feet by Steve.

"Lucky guess," Matt said with a shrug.

Hawkeye's heartbeat told him that he didn't believe the excuse, but he didn't press Matt for any clarification. Matt gave a tiny wave and turned around again, limping home.

* * *

"You met  _the_ Avengers?" Foggy asked in an awed voice as they sat on Matt's couch later that night.

Matt shifted to make himself more comfortable, right leg elevated on a pillow in Foggy's lap. "Well. Yes. You don't have to sound so starstruck."

"But they're heroes!" Foggy exclaimed while throwing his hands up in the air.

Matt sent him a sour look. "They're celebrities."

"Are you jealous?" Foggy asked in a tone that let Matt  _hear_  the smirk in it.

"Absolutely not," Matt said as he crossed his arms. "They just aren't as perfect as you might think."

"Why would you say that? Let a man have his idols."

"They nearly sacrificed a civilian to further their investigation," Matt said in a clipped tone.

Foggy was quiet for several seconds before saying in a timid voice, "I'm sure they had a good reason."

"Well, they didn't do it  _knowingly,_ but they didn't trust me when I said there was a civilian. They told me to step down."

"You can be so whiny sometimes," Foggy said with a huff. "Besides, you can't really fault them for not blindly trusting every vigilante they come across."

"I guess not. But that doesn't excuse risking lives."

"I'll give you that," Foggy agreed as he reached over for his laptop, hitting play on the show they had been watching and sinking back against the backrest of the sofa, absentmindedly petting Matt's leg in his lap.


	2. Chapter 2

Matt didn't run into the Avengers for several weeks after their first encounter, and had almost chalked it up to a one-time-thing when he heard a steady heartbeat waiting up on a rooftop one night while he was out patrolling. The heartbeat was accompanied by the smell of leather and bow string wax.

"Hey, Daredevil!" Hawkeye called out with a small wave as Matt landed a couple of meters from where he was standing.  _His name is Clint,_  Matt reminded himself as he straightened up.

"What?" Matt asked curtly, even as he almost gave in to the small smile that wanted to spread on his lips at the other's enthusiasm.

Clint put his hands on his hips. "Word is you're good at finding people. That true?"

"Depends," Matt said while tilting his head. The night was quiet and he could swear that he heard some sort of buzzing sound coming from the other man's ears, but he couldn't place it.

"We need to find someone. Someone who's dealing with some dangerous goods," Clint said vaguely, and Matt furrowed his brows.

"Is this connected to the break-in at Stark's company?"

"…Yes," Clint said after a slight hesitation. Well, at least he wasn't lying. "Tony actually thinks you owe us the help since this might have been prevented if we had found out the criminals' plan last time."

"Is that what you think?" Matt asked, immediately on guard.

Clint raised a hand and waved it through the air in a vague motion. "Nah, not really. It would be nice if you helped though."

"So what's happened to make you call on me?" Matt asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"There might have been another break-in at one of Stark's companies. No chemicals this time, but electronics."

"Ah," Matt said. So they wanted his help to clean up an internal affair before it got out of hand.

"Well…?" Clint asked in an exasperated tone.

"Well what?" Matt asked innocently. He refused to make this easy for the man in front of him.

"You going to help us or what? Don't play stupid, it doesn't suit you," Clint said with a scoff.

"You want my help after last time?" Matt asked, and it was less of a rib and more of an honest question; he had honestly thought that he had burnt his bridges with the Avengers after the last time.

"Well,  _I_ do."

"The others don't know that you are here, do they?"

"…No."

Matt smirked. "Let's do this."

* * *

A couple of days later, Matt paused during his patrol as he caught the sound of a familiar, powerful, and steady heartbeat standing up on another rooftop.  _Captain America._  Matt briefly wondered if this was going to become a habit of the Avengers; showing up on roofs in Hell's Kitchen during the night to talk to him. From what he knew of the Avenger's tendency to attract danger, he sincerely hoped not; Hell's Kitchen had enough of that already.

Matt heaved a sigh and started making his way up the building to get the meeting over with; he doubted that Steve Rogers was the kind of person that easily gave up on something once he had set his mind. Matt moved as silently as he could, taking some enjoyment in trying to sneak up on the war hero in front of him.

Steve's breathing didn't change as Matt moved closer and when Matt pointedly cleared his throat a couple of meters behind him, he didn't even flinch. Either he was more collected than Matt realized, or he had already known that Matt was there.

"I heard you met up with Clint?" Steve said in a casual tone, turning to where Matt was standing.

"Are you guys gossiping behind my back?" Matt asked with a smirk. Truth be told, he had gotten along with Hawkeye, with  _Clint_ , better than he had ever imagined. It was because of this that he was willing to give Steve a chance as well.

"What? No!" Steve said in a voice that Matt would classify as flustered if it hadn't come from Captain America himself. "I just wanted to know how you were doing, since you got a bit banged up last we saw you."

"I'm fine," Matt said shortly and honestly; he hadn't been bothered by his leg for more than the first couple of days.

"Okay, I believe you," Steve said with a nod and Matt was pleasantly surprised to find that the other did in fact believe him. "The thing is… We suspect the criminal we apprehended breaking into Stark's company the other week—" Matt cleared his throat and Steve stopped and gave a short laugh before backtracking, " _you_  apprehended breaking into Stark's company the other week is involved in something bigger. Something bad."

"Yeah, Clint already gave me that whole speech," Matt waved the other off. "Something about electronics and Stark not wanting it to get out that his company has shit security."

Steve gave another chuckle at this before continuing. "We have reason to believe that they are operating out of Hell's Kitchen."

"No. I would have noticed," Matt said immediately.

"You can't possibly notice everything that is going on, and I just assumed that you would want to know if we suspected that someone was using Hell's Kitchen as a base of operations."

"Are you sure about this? Why didn't Clint come and tell me himself?" Matt asked with suspicion as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Steve shrugged. "We're almost sure. And, well… I wanted to come and talk to you myself."

"Making sure I'm trustworthy?"

"In a way," Steve admitted easily and Matt snorted.

"Beating down criminals by your side and saving Stark's building from getting flooded with poisonous gas wasn't enough for you guys to trust me? But now you need my help?" Mat asked with a raised eyebrow he knew the other wouldn't be able to see beneath his mask.

Steve rubbed at his neck. "When you put it like that…" He cleared his throat. "Anyway. We're not sure where their base is yet and we could really need your help with, you know, keeping an eye out for them."

Matt couldn't help but grin at that. "Sure. I'll keep my eyes peeled."

"Great," Steve said, oblivious to Matt's joke. "Here's a business card if you need to contact us."

He extended a hand holding a small sheet of sturdy paper and Matt took it, not even pretending to read what was on it before stuffing it into his suit. "Thanks."

* * *

Matt was sitting at his desk reading the paper early the next morning when he heard someone enter their office. Neither Foggy nor Karen had arrived yet, so Matt got up and made his way over to the front of the office to greet the person, whoever they were.

"Hello and welcome to—" Matt trailed off with a small frown. He felt like he recognized the heartbeat of the person, but he couldn't quite place from where. There was also a familiar tapping noise echoing through the room that Matt felt like he should recognize.  _A_   _cane,_  he realized. It was rare that he heard the sound coming from a person besides himself so he had some trouble placing the sound. Matt cleared his throat and started over, making sure to speak with a welcoming voice. "Welcome to Nelson and Murdock."

"Hello. Am I speaking to Nelson or Murdock?" A woman's voice said and suddenly it all clicked. The heartbeat was slower and she was a lot more collected, but there was no doubt about it; the person standing in front of him was the same woman that he had found alone in Stark's development facility during the break-in a couple of weeks ago.

"I'm the Murdock part of the business," Matt said, extending a hand while trying to keep his voice from showing his surprise. Why had she come here?

"Ah, sorry. Are you reaching out a hand? I'm blind," The woman said in a slightly hesitant tone as she raised her own hand in front of her as if to receive a handshake. "But my name is Ava Brown."

Matt made a conscious effort to fumble a bit as he grabbed Ava's hand and shook it with a small laugh. "Well, so am I, so you're in good company."

"Really?" Ava asked as she brightened up, her shoulders relaxing slightly at his words.

"Really," Matt said, letting the smile color his voice in warmth. "Let's sit down, we have a conference room to your right. Do you want coffee? Tea?"

"I'm fine thanks," Ava replied with an easy smile and they made their way to the conference room, sitting down on opposite sides of the table.

"So what do you need our help with?" Matt asked, taking extra care to keep the slight suspicion out of his voice. There was no way that she had figured out that he had been present that night, right?

Ava hesitated slightly before answering. "I was recently involved in a somewhat… troubling incident with a criminal and the Avengers."

"Oh," Matt said, keeping his voice neutral but feeling his shoulders tensing up at her words. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It all turned out alright and I'm fine. The thing is that I…" Ava trailed off, hesitating, before squaring her shoulders and continuing. "I want to sue Stark Industries."

Matt blinked. He had not seen that coming. "What?"

"Well. I know it's probably futile, but I feel like someone has to step up and try and change things. When that criminal attacked the building, I was left essentially defenseless, with no means to evacuate. That can't be in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act, can it?"

Matt shook his head as he tried to follow along with the conversation. "No, it's not. The company has to provide everyone with equal exit during emergencies."

"Right," Ava said with a nod. "Then I want to sue. If nothing else, it should make the company look over their evacuation plans and keep this from happening again."

Matt nodded in silence before cursing himself, he had to remember that not all blind people saw in the same way that he and Stick did.

"Right, yes," Matt said. "Ms. Brown, we accept your case."

Ava smiled as her shoulders relaxed. "Thank you Mr. Murdock."

* * *

Matt sat at his desk going through paperwork for a case, his mind mainly focused on how the lawsuit against Stark would go— they had filed a complaint the day before and were now waiting for a response— when Foggy leaned into his office and asked if he wanted some coffee.

"No, thank you. But can I have some tea? There's some in the cupboard behind the crackers." Matt asked without pausing what he was reading. Karen wasn't in, so there was no use pretending not to know exactly where the hidden package of ginger tea was stashed.

Foggy tilted his head. "Since when do you drink tea?"

"Since my throat started hurting," Matt said matter-of-factly, resting his hands on the desk in front of him and giving up on reading for the time being. He wasn't really taking anything in anyways.

"Are you getting sick? Maybe you should stay in tonight," Foggy said in a worried tone.

Matt waved him off. "No, no, I'm not getting sick. I just— Well, maybe I've been straining my voice a bit."

"Straining…? Oh! Oh my god," Foggy said with a small laugh as he looked over his shoulder to make sure that Karen wasn't back from her lunch yet. "You mean to say that your alter-ego's ridiculously low-pitched voice makes your throat hurt?"

"It's not ridiculous, it's necessary to keep my identity safe," Matt said as he crossed his arms and Foggy gave an incredulous scoff. "Besides, I'm not used to all the company I've been getting as of late. It feels like the Avengers are everywhere."

"You mean Hawkeye?"

"Mostly."

"He seems nice. I'm glad you're making friends," Foggy said in a teasing voice as he clapped Matt on the shoulder.

"We're not friends," Matt said in a sour tone. "Can I please have my tea now?"

"Yeah, yeah," Foggy said with a sigh as he made his way out into the reception area. "I think it's good that you spend some time with the Avengers, I worry less when you're not alone. And besides—"

Matt held up his hand. "Shh. Someone's coming…" He tilted his head to hear better before heaving a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he muttered,"Oh, no. He's fast."

"Hello. I'm Tony Stark," Stark said as he stepped through the door to the office and Matt turned around to face the man that was currently waiting for a response as if he had declared he was the president.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," Matt said in a professional tone as he extended his hand in greeting. Stark grabbed it in a short handshake. "I'm Matt Murdock."

Matt could sense Foggy standing beside him with his mouth slightly open and discreetly swatted at his arm. Foggy shut his mouth with a very audible click before stammering out, "I- It's nice to meet you Mr. Stark! I'm Foggy Nelson," Foggy extended a hand as well, which Stark shook with a half-smile.

"Yes, the same to you and all that. Now," Stark said as he turned towards their counter and grabbed a clean cup before unceremoniously pouring himself a cup of coffee from their pot. Matt knew that the coffee wasn't warm, but that didn't seem to faze Tony as he took a long swig before continuing. "I heard you were approached by a woman wanting to sue my company for failing to comply with the ADA? I got the notice yesterday."

"That's right," Matt said and crossed his arms over his chest, readying himself to defend the woman and her decision.

What he wasn't prepared for was Stark smiling and nodding while saying, "That's great! I'm looking forward to your guidance."

"...What?"

"Well, I'm well aware that my company is… lacking in some areas. Especially when it comes to the ADA. You have to understand that it's hard to know what to look out for."

Matt simply raised his eyebrows in stunned silence; he had not seen this coming. It seemed that today was full of surprises.

Foggy nodded eagerly. "Yeah, sure, we understand that."

Stark continued almost without a pause, waving his cup of coffee as he talked. "This is a great opportunity to learn what we should do differently."

"And avoid a lawsuit," Matt added, almost desperate to unearth a less noble reason for Stark's willingness to comply.

Stark nodded easily, once again taking Matt by surprise. "Sure, and avoid a lawsuit. It never looks good in the media, but I genuinely also want to do better."

Matt was surprised to hear that he was telling the truth. Foggy still didn't seem to have overcome his initial shock at Tony Stark dropping by their office and was openly staring at the man.

"Well, Mr. Stark, we can't just drop the lawsuit at a moment's notice. You can answer the complaint and I'm sure we can arrive at a settlement that benefits everyone," Matt said before turning his head to send what he hoped was a pointed look in Foggy's general direction. "Right, Foggy?"

Foggy cleared his throat and straightened up, and if the heat in his cheeks was anything to go by, Matt guessed that he was blushing furiously. "Yeah, right. Well, we have to contact our client first and discuss an eventual settlement," Foggy said before he broke into a huge grin that even Matt could pick up on. "Come on, let's have a seat in the conference room, shall we? You've already found our coffee, Mr. Stark, but would you like a fresh cup?" Foggy asked as he gestured towards the room to their right.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Tony said as he handed Foggy his cold cup of coffee and followed Matt into the conference room. "And call me Tony, will you? No need to be so formal!"

Matt felt his way over to a chair and pulled it out, sitting down with a small huff. Tony took a seat to his right and they sat in silence for a while, listening to Foggy messing around with the coffee machine. Matt could hear him muttering under his breath, too quiet for anyone but him to pick it up, "Tony Stark. I can't believe  _Tony Stark_  is in our office. I'm on first name basis with Tony Stark!"

Foggy entered the room with three steaming cups of coffee and, to his credit, only trembled slightly as he set one of them down in front of Tony.

Matt took a small sip of his cup and relaxed slightly when Tony wasted no more time getting to the point of his visit. "The thing is, I was personally involved with the incident in question and want to know how to handle similar future scenarios better. Or prevent them from happening at all."

"That sounds like a good start," Matt agreed as he thought back to how scared Ava had been while all alone in the building during the break-in.

Tony nodded and continued. "I don't really blame those who left her behind—it can be hard for people to picture the chaos that results from people panicking—but I want to make it easier to do the right thing the next time."

Matt smiled. "Yes, I think we can imagine."

"Good. 'Cause I need to set up some new guidelines to make sure that no one gets left behind again in case of an emergency."

"We'll see what we can do to help," Foggy declared confidently before looking in Matt's direction and clearing his throat. "After we check in with our client of course."

A sudden beeping noise made Tony raise his hand to look at his watch; an increased heart rate and a hastily drawn-in breath suggesting something stressful.

Matt's suspicions were confirmed when a second later, Tony clapped his hands and spoke with forced cheer as he got to his feet. "Well, it's been fun boys, but duty is calling! See you around. Oh, before I forget," Tony said as he grabbed something flat and square from his pocket and handed it to Foggy as he passed him by on his way to the door, "My business card. I'll be in touch."

Before either Matt or Foggy had the time to respond, Tony was out of the office, leaving them sitting at the table with three cups of steaming coffee in silence.

Foggy opened his mouth to speak but Matt raised his hand to silence him as he listened to Tony move down the hallway and out the door. As soon as he hit the street there was a mechanical whirring, followed by the sound of repulsor jets as well as a faint voice speaking through what was probably Tony's internal comms in the Iron Man suit.

"What's so urgent?" Foggy asked when Matt finally lowered his hand back down. He was still holding Tony's business card in his hands as if it was something valuable.

Matt sighed and took another sip from his cup. "There's been another break-in."

* * *

Matt didn't have much luck locating the criminals' supposed base in Hell's Kitchen that night or the next, but he did hear rumors on the streets about a new break-in at one of Stark's facilities, and that some of the people involved had been spotted down at the harbor. Matt was on his way there when he stopped in the middle of a small street, tilting his head to listen.

"Hey. You getting down anytime soon or should I climb up?" Matt asked, still facing the same direction. He could hear a snort from the top of a fire escape to his right.

"Daredevil! I was looking for you!" Clint's voice drifted down from above.

"Yeah, I guessed as much," Matt said with a scoff.

Clint jumped down from where he had been perching in the dark. "Someday I'll take you by surprise, just you wait. I'm still not sure how you always know where I am, it's pitch dark out here!"

"Trade secret," Matt said with a grin as they started walking together.

Clint smiled back. "It's good to see you."

"Why are you here tonight?" Matt asked with a smile that came out more genuine than he had planned on. Matt found that he didn't mind Clint's company as much as he first thought he would, but he had no intention of letting the other know that just yet.

"Can't I just wanna hang out?"

"I don't have time for bullshit."

"I'm not bullshitting."

Matt didn't answer, but he frowned as he realized that the words weren't a lie. At least not completely.

Clint broke the silence with a cough and an overly-casual tone as he asked, "Soooo, have you found out anything on the criminals? They may have broken into another one of Stark's companies yesterday."

"I knew there was something you wanted," Matt said with a small huff of laughter.

"Hey! Maybe I genuinely wanted to hang out as well as ask questions about criminals."

"Sure," Matt drawled, but decided to drop it. He liked Clint's company well enough. "I heard someone talking about some suspicious people down at the harbor. Could be who we're looking for."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go check it out!"

When they arrived at the harbor they came across nothing but people without answers, the smell of paint, and something else that made Matt scrunch up his nose. It smelled like nail polish remover and paint thinner, but why would someone use acetone in a harbor…? Matt furrowed his brow in confusion as Clint approached another worker. Paint plus paint thinner equaled spray paint. Maybe someone had graffitied a wall close by? Matt focused in on the conversation in front of him as an older woman heaved a heavy sigh, seemingly reacting to whatever Clint had asked her.

"The people you're looking for left yesterday," she said as she helped load a container onto a waiting ship. "And before you ask, no, I have no idea where they went."

Clint opened his mouth to press her, but Matt beat him to it.

"Thank you for your help," he said and dragged Clint away.

"Dude! She might have actually known something!" Clint said as he struggled against Matt's grip.

Mat let go as they were a couple of blocks away, out of sight and hearing distance. He turned to Clint and angled his head to give the impression of looking him in the eye. "She was telling the truth; she didn't know anything more than that."

"How could you know that?" Clint asked in exasperation, throwing his hands up.

"I just do, okay."

"Veeeery reassuring," Clint said with a snort and Matt felt himself smile.

"Just trust me," Matt said while clapping Clint on the shoulder and starting to walk away from the harbor.

"Sure, sure," Clint waved him off. "By the way, you see that logo on the side of the building?"

Matt frowned. "No?"

Clint gave a short laugh. "For a vigilante, you're not very vigilant, are you? It was plastered over the whole wall. Looked kind of like a golden crown… Not unlike what the Chitauri wore when we fought them."

Matt had no idea what the Chitauri looked like so he simply shrugged it off. "Was it spray-painted on?"

"Huh? What?" Clint asked and looked over at Matt. "I think it was just painted on with a brush, you know? Why?"

Matt thought about the smell of acetone that had hung in the air and frowned. "Just wondering."

* * *

"Hey, Matt! I've just been talking to Ava on the phone and she's happy to not take the case to court if Tony is serious about changing the guidelines," Foggy called from his office the next day. Matt made a vague noise of agreement and nodded. He absentmindedly moved his fingers over the page in front of him, absorbing nothing as his thoughts circled back to the night before when he had gone out by himself to patrol Hell's Kitchen and what he had overheard.

"That's great…" he mumbled in an attempt to appease Foggy.

Foggy sighed as he entered Matt's office. "What? I thought you would be happier to hear that everything in the case is working out?"

Matt glanced up, fingers still resting on the paper he had failed to read for the last half-hour, and wondered what he had missed. "Huh?"

"You've been distracted all morning. Spit it out, what is it?"

"Oh, well…" Matt trailed off, making sure that Karen was still out for lunch before continuing. "I might have heard some new information concerning the Stark case yesterday."

"The one with Ava? Why didn't you say something?!"

"No, no. Not that one. The one with the Avengers."

"Ooooh, the Daredevil one! So, what's the news?"

Matt hesitated slightly before continuing. "I overheard someone talking about a plan to break into another of Stark's buildings. One with electronic research in it. They also mentioned the development facility that got broken into a couple of weeks ago, which makes me think that it might be connected in some way. Even if it's not the same guys behind it, they might know something."

Foggy splayed his hands out in agitation, breathing picking up, "Well, what are you still here for?! Go warn them!"

"I promised not to let my  _other_  job get in the way of this one."

"But you know something that could help the Avengers?"

"The keyword here is  _could_. I have no idea if the information is reliable or not." Matt said, knowing full well that he was grasping for straws. The truth was that how he had left it last time with Tony made him uncomfortable, and the Tower itself made him uncomfortable. Surrounded by Stark's tech and several sets of prying eyes in brightly lit rooms weren't optimal conditions to keep a secret identity secret. He knew he should go, but that didn't make it any more appealing.

"Just go. You're too distracted to get anything done anyways."

"I know," Matt said as he got to his feet. Matt also knew that he wouldn't be able to look the other way when he could help stop a crime, no matter how uncomfortable he might feel. "Sorry, Foggy—I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"I'm counting on it!"

Matt stopped in the door and Foggy heaved a deep sigh. "Now what?"

"I can't very well just waltz in at the reception desk dressed as Daredevil, now can I?"

Foggy seemed to think for a couple of seconds before snapping his fingers. "You said that Captain America gave you a card when you met. Hand it to me," Foggy said with an extended hand in Matt's direction.

Matt raised an eyebrow but didn't argue as he handed Foggy the card from his wallet. "You mean the card you found out about while hounding me for details about my talk with Steve Rogers."

Foggy pointedly did not answer this as he turned the card over in his hands, but Matt could feel him smile. "Bingo! On the back it says to use the black door on the side-street for Avengers business."

"Seriously?" Matt asked with raised eyebrows.

"Seriously," Foggy confirmed as he handed the card back.

Matt approached the Tower with something akin to nervousness bubbling in his stomach. He gripped his bag containing his Daredevil costume hard in his left hand as he held his cane with his right. A couple of streets away he slunk into an alleyway and quickly got changed, making sure that no one was in the vicinity to see him do so.

When he was done he took the roofs and dropped down on a side-street to the tower, hoping it was the right one. In front of him was a fairly small door. Matt had no idea if it was black or not.

He approached it and a sudden voice made him jump. "Welcome, Daredevil sir. This way please."

The door in front of him opened up into an elevator and Matt hesitated a second longer before entering. There was no one around. A speaker then? Was he being watched? He didn't like not knowing.

"Where do you want to go?" The same voice spoke again as soon as the door to the street outside had closed, making Matt startle slightly before he took a calming breath and answered, "To Tony Stark?"

The elevator began moving without another word from whoever had spoken and Matt frowned at the silence. He could hear a lot of mechanical whirring in the walls of the elevator, components that he had a hard time placing and it made him uneasy.

"Hello?" Matt asked into the silence.

"Hello, sir. Can I help you with something else?" The same voice asked in the same unsettlingly measured tone.

Matt traced the voice as coming from a speaker in the ceiling that seemed to be connected to a lot of the wires surrounding the elevator and trailing off into the building in all directions. "Who are you?"

"Forgive my rudeness. My name is Jarvis."

That didn't actually tell Matt anything, but the more the voice spoke, the more certain Matt became that Jarvis wasn't an ordinary human. The voice was too precise and too controlled; the vowels cut just this side of too short. Even the slightly ironic obedience was perfectly measured.

Matt simply nodded with a short, "Okay," and left it at that while trying to shake the feeling of unease he got when he realized that he could trace the pulsating, interconnected electricity throughout the whole building, eerily mimicking a living being. He decided to try and stay on Jarvis' good side for now.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to an empty corridor. He could hear several people in a room to his right and made his way over after only a slight hesitation. Matt was about to turn the corner and enter the room when he heard something that made him stop short.

"Hey, Clint," the voice of Bruce Banner said in a conversational tone. "You hang out with Daredevil sometimes, right?"

"Yeah?" Clint answered while clearly stuffing something into his mouth at the same time. Matt wasn't really one for listening in on others' conversations, but he couldn't simply pass this up.

"Is he psychic or something? He seems to know more than he should sometimes."

"Don't be ridiculous, the dude's clearly just very lucky," Clint said with a small laugh.

"I saw similar things when I was in the army. Some people just have very good instincts," Steve said.

"He clearly has some advanced tech in that suit helping him out. I wonder who built it? He never seems particularly interested in my inventions," Tony said in a thoughtful voice.

"Maybe he would let you look at the suit if you asked nicely?" Clint asked in a cheerful tone.

"That dude wouldn't know nice if it bit him in the ass," Tony snorted.

"It's kind of interesting though, what he can do. I once saw him take out six guys in complete darkness," Clint said with a thoughtful voice.

Bruce seemed to perk up at this. "Oh! I have one! One time he answered a question someone asked me over  _my_ comm. As if he could hear it on the other side of the room."

This had gone on long enough, Matt decided.

"Hey guys," Matt said as he stepped around the corner, secretly enjoying the startled jumps of the people in the room.

"Jesus!" Clint exclaimed and grabbed at his chest.

"Don't. Do. That," Bruce said with measured, calming breaths.

"How long have you been there?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Impressive," Natasha muttered under her breath.

"Jarvis, please tell me when people enter the private floors of the tower!" Tony shouted towards the ceiling.

"Yes, sir," Jarvis said with what Matt could have sworn was a smug tone to their voice.

Matt crossed his arms and stopped in front of the group. "I have some new information."

* * *

Matt was bored as he stood and waited for Tony and Steve to report back from where they were surveying the electronic development facility down the road. The rest of the Avengers and Matt himself were spaced out around the perimeter to make sure that no one got away.

Matt flicked one of his billy clubs up into the air and caught it as it came back down before throwing it up again. He thought about the Avengers, about the criminals stealing chemicals and electronics and what they could be planning. About how tired he was. Between the case with Ava and Stark and his nightly excursions patrolling or meeting with the Avengers, he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the last couple of weeks.

He suddenly heard movement behind him and he cursed his lack of attention. Stick would kill him if he found him this spaced out. Matt flicked one of the clubs over his shoulder straight at whoever was sneaking up on him, and heard a grunt of pain.

"Ouch! ...How the fuck?"

Matt whipped his head towards the voice.  _Clint_. Matt felt adrenaline kick in as he realized that he shouldn't have been able to see where he aimed that throw. "Shit."

"Shit?" Clint asked in an incredulous tone. "What was that? Why did you hit me? How did you—?"

"Luck?" Matt tried with a serious tone. Clint's heartbeat told him that the other wasn't fooled. "You took me by surprise."

"Dude, nobody takes you by surprise."

"Speaking of surprises, where's Thor? I haven't seen him around in a while and I'm not overly fond of the idea of someone suddenly dropping down from the sky in a flash of lightning," Matt asked, mostly to change the subject. He would never admit that he actually spaced out during a mission.

"He had something to take care of back home, didn't really tell us all the details, but—"

"Hey, guys!" Tony's voice suddenly sounded over both Clint's and Matt's comm and they immediately straightened up. Matt still wasn't used to the comm he had received from the Avenger's in preparation for this mission. "We have movement here at the building, but I think they spotted us and took off. There's a truck moving in your direction!"

Clint raised his hand to his earpiece. "Copy that. Daredevil and I are on it."

"Hey, let's split up," Matt said as he listened to the truck approaching. "You go left and I go right; it's bound to take either of those routes as it passes by this intersection."

"Sounds good," Clint said with a nod and they both took off in different directions.

Matt had barely realized the truck had turned onto the street he was watching before Clint talked into his comm, "It's coming your way!"

"I see it," Matt said as he heard the truck approach the building he was using as a vantage point. "Should I engage?"

"No. Just observe," Tony said and Matt could hear the hum of his repulsors in the background. "They didn't do anything illegal before we scared them off so we could get in trouble if we arrest them, but try and see if you can catch something that will help us track them."

The truck drove past him down on the street and Matt could make out several people sitting in it; all geared up and ready for action. There were also several boxes of equipment and the unmistakable smell of paint and acetone as the truck drove past him, too fast to follow by foot.

"What did it say?" Clint asked as he landed on the rood beside Matt, panting slightly from the exertion.

Matt turned towards him. "What?"

"The truck? What company was it? Was the logo the same as in the harbor? I was too far away to get a good look at it."

Matt felt frustration bubble up inside him. The truck had a logo on it?He gave a small huff before admitting, "I have no idea." He thought about the smell of paint, very similar to the smell at the harbor. "But I think so."

Tony landed beside where Matt and Clint stood. "Well? What do we have?"

"Not a lot," Clint said with slight hesitation, turning towards Matt and waiting for him to take over explaining why they didn't have anything to go on. Matt shifted uneasily as their attention turned to him.

"They might have had the same logo printed on the side of the truck as we saw in the harbor."

"Might?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow and exasperation clear in his voice. "Then what about the license plate?"

"I didn't see it," Matt said in a clipped tone.

"How could you not?!" Tony said in an irritated voice. "It was right in front of you!"

"It was… dark."

"I can't believe this," Tony said as he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

Matt gritted his teeth and ground out, "It won't happen again."

"It doesn't need to happen  _again,_ the damage is already done. Now they know we're on their tail, but we have nothing to show for it. They'll either go underground or speed up their plan."

"Hey, Tony. Lay off him," Clint jumped in and Matt felt his irritation grow. He didn't need anyone to protect him.

"If he's gonna work with us then he has to be reliable!"

"I didn't ask to work with you! You asked me!" Matt growled out.

"That is technically true," Clint agreed with raised hands. "But you have to admit that Tony has a point as well."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing," Tony said. "We're done here."

"Fine," Matt said in a cold tone and stalked off into the shadows at the same time as Tony took off into the air, leaving Clint alone on the roof.


	3. Chapter 3

Matt arrived at the front desk in Avengers Tower and as soon as he stepped inside he could feel his shoulders tensing. He did  _not_  want to talk to Tony right now, even if this meeting was between Tony and Matt Murdock and had nothing to do with Daredevil.

Matt took a deep breath to control the residual anger from the night before as he approached the reception desk. The person sitting behind it looked up as he approached.

"Hello there! How can I help you?"

"I'm here to meet Tony Stark," Matt said in his most polite voice, hoping to get this whole meeting over with as soon as possible.

"Aha, do you have a scheduled appointment?"

"I think so? I'm Matt Murdock, the lawyer in charge of the lawsuit against Stark Industries for not complying with the ADA."

"Oh, I see," the receptionist said and typed something on the computer in front of them. "You can go right up, elevator is to your right. 60th floor."

"Thank you," Matt said with a curt nod.

Arriving on the indicated floor, he was met by silence. Matt could sense someone moving about a couple of rooms down, but he had no real means of getting there without raising suspicion on how he knew where to go.

"Hello?" Matt called out tentatively, his voice coming out slightly hoarse. If these team-ups with the Avengers continued he would have to start doing vocal exercises to make things easier on his vocal cords. The gruff voice of Daredevil was fairly effective in helping to conceal his identity, but it did come with a rather annoying price.

"Hello, Mr. Murdock," A mechanical voice answered at once. "Do you want me to guide you to where Tony Stark is located?"

"Jarvis," Matt said with a small smile. "Yes, thank you."

He followed Jarvis' instructions and ended up in some sort of workshop with electronic parts and machinery strewn everywhere.

"Sir, Matthew Murdock is here to see you."

"Thank you Jarvis," Tony said as he straightened up from where he had been bent over working on something Matt couldn't make out on a table.

Tony crossed over to where Matt was standing and clapped him on the shoulder with a hearty, "Matt! Good to see you. Welcome to the Tower."

Matt did his best to smile and hoped that it didn't come out too forced, he hadn't completely forgotten about the disagreement they'd had the night before. "Thank you."

"Did I miss something?" Tony asked in a surprised voice. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm just tired. Sorry," Matt forced out followed by another strained smile. He had to remind himself that Tony had said those things to  _Daredevil_ and not  _Matt Murdock_.

"No problemo! We've all been there." Tony said flippantly. "Gives us even more reason to just get down to business, busy times and all that."

"Right," Matt agreed with a nod. "My partner talked to Ava and she's willing to agree to a settlement if you are serious about changing your company's policies."

"That guy from your office? Misty?" Tony asked.

"Foggy, yeah," Matt said with a small laugh. "So I think we should start looking at what changes you should make and how that will look."

Tony nodded in agreement and sat down on the other side of the table.

They talked for a several hours, going through ADA guidelines and comparing it to the guidelines that Tony already had in place in case of an emergency. Matt made some suggestions for improvements and Tony took notes.

The whole thing felt very routine and Matt felt part of his attention drifting, focusing on the other case at hand and what they could do now that the lead at the harbor had turned up empty.

Tony was in the middle of another small monologue that Matt only half listened to when he was interrupted by Jarvis's voice coming from a nearby speaker on the wall. Matt couldn't keep himself from flinching slightly at the sudden sound of speech so close by without having heard anyone approach. It was unnerving.

"Sir, I have been informed that a major gas leak has occurred a couple of blocks away. The police are on their way, but they are afraid of sudden ignition. Do you wish to go there and secure the civilians?"

Matt froze. A gas leak. Gas that could explode. Acetone could be used as a thinner for paint, but it could also be used to create acetone peroxide. A primary explosive.

"Thank you Jarvis. Yeah, tell the police we're on our way," Tony said while getting to his feet. "Alert Steve and Clint and tell them to get to the roof." Matt almost didn't notice it when Tony turned to talk to him instead; he was so distracted by the new revelation. "Hey, sorry, but we better wrap this up—" Tony trailed off as he turned around to face Matt fully. "You okay?"

Matt shook his head and did his best to send the other a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. I just realized something. What if the—" Matt cut himself off, horrified that he had almost shared his revelation while still dressed as Matthew Murdock, lawyer. He gave a small cough and hoped that his mistake went unnoticed. "Go save the city. We'll be in touch."

"Sure thing. Jarvis can let you out," Tony said as he started walking away, already busying himself with some sort of electronics in his hand and Matt could hear the buzz of electricity come to life all throughout the tower. "It's okay if I leave you here, right? You'll be able to find your way out…?"

"Yes, it's fine," Matt said with a wave and stood from his seat as Tony made his way from the room. He quickly gathered up his papers and showed them into his bag as he listened to the Avengers making their way to the roof.

Matt wasted no more time but went straight towards the elevator, promptly telling Jarvis to take him down to street level. He sent the receptionist a quick nod as he passed by and hurried outside, where he immediately waved down a taxi to take him to his apartment. He grabbed his suit, stuffed it in a bag and sprinted back down to the waiting taxi. This time Matt didn't hesitate to make his way to Avenger's Tower.

He arrived at the same time as Tony, Clint and Steve got back, and if the smiles on their faces were any indication, the mission must have been a success. Thankfully, both Natasha and Bruce were already in the room and Matt gave them a short nod in greeting before getting straight to the point.

"I think they are making a bomb."

He could feel all of them freeze up as the smiles dropped, one after the other. Steve was the first one to give a small shake of his head and ask incredulously: "What?"

Matt sucked in a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and did his best to explain. "The criminals that have been targeting Stark's companies. They are gathering ingredients to build a bomb."

Bruce got to his feet and took a couple of steps towards where they were gathered in the middle of the room. "What makes you say that?"

"The smell of acetone," Matt said with a wry grin. "It was very prominent both at the harbor and from the truck. At first, I thought it could be the spray can used to paint their logo, but Clint said that it had been painted on with a brush. So why the acetone?"

"Acetone peroxide. They  _are_  making a bomb," Tony breathed out and Matt gave a slightly impatient nod.

"This is bad, this is really bad," Bruce said and Matt tensed slightly as he heard his heartbeat pick up. He had no wish to meet the Other Guy today. "But what do you mean  _the smell_  of acetone?"

"I didn't smell anything from the truck," Tony said in a thoughtful voice and Matt felt his earlier annoyance with the man return full force.

Matt clenched his hands into fists and took a deep breath to quall the immense urge to punch Tony in the face before grinding out, "You were in your suit, right? How could you have possibly smelled anything from in there?"

"Well, I wasn't scanning for  _smells_ while hunting down a truck. But you said you smelled it at the harbor as well?" Tony asked and turned towards Clint with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms, sounding just as put out and defensive as Matt did.

"I didn't smell anything at the harbor," Clint said hesitantly with a shrug directed towards Matt. "I still believe you though. You notice some strange stuff."

"Yes, we trust you Daredevil," Steve said and Matt relaxed slightly.

Tony grumbled, "Yeah, whatever."

"But what are they targeting?" Bruce asked thoughtfully.

"Well, let's start with what we know," Natasha said and Matt nearly jumped. He had almost forgotten that she was in the room. "Some people start breaking into Stark's facilities. They paint a Chitauri-like mark as their logo and are probably building a bomb with resources stolen from Stark Industries. "

Clint huffed. "They clearly have some grudge or unhealthy fixation. Or both."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Tony said with a tired voice. "By the way, David Marcus, the dude we arrested breaking into my research facility, used to work at Stark Industries. At a development facility that got totally demolished during the Chitauri invasion."

There was silence for several seconds after this statement.

"You didn't think to mention that?" Natasha said in a carefully controlled voice.

"I am mentioning it, aren't I?" Tony said and leaned back in his chair. "I didn't think it was relevant before."

"Shows what you know," Clint muttered under his breath and Matt snorted.

"Why did they stop working for you?"

"Well, I looked it up and Marcus kind of… fell between the cracks after the invasion. There were a lot of people that got affected that day and we didn't have the resources to rebuild everything at once."

"So you fired them?"

"Well… Not fired exactly… There just wasn't anywhere for them to work anymore."

"So these people have worked for you, or at least have some insight into your company, and they might very well house a grudge against you for indirectly costing them their job?"

"I guess?"

"Great," Clint said. "Now who could their target  _possibly_ be?"

"The question is, how do we find them?" Natasha asked and Matt had to admire her skill at getting the conversation back on track. At least someone on the team had a cool head.

Bruce raised his hand in the air and Clint snorted a laugh. "Yes, Bruce. Do you want to share something with the class?"

Natasha swatted at Clint, even as Matt could sense the smile on her face, as well as the heat radiating from Bruce's.

"Well. I just thought it would make sense if they targeted somewhere where it would hurt Tony most. Like Avengers Tower, or—"

"Or my current development facilities," Tony cut in and they all turned towards him in surprise as he held up his phone. "I've just gotten reports of several attacks on my development facilities. Both in New York and several other cities."

* * *

The Avengers and Matt split up to go to different development facilities, agreeing that they couldn't risk leaving any of the locations and their personnel in potential danger for longer than necessary.

Matt and Clint were tasked to go to the facility in New York, and they arrived outside the building in time for the other Avengers to report arriving at their destinations as well. They had split up in as many groups as they could while still ensuring that no one went alone.

Matt picked up on a faint smell of acetone drifting through the air. The smell made him stop in his tracks and he concentrated on the building in front of them, trying to find the source. After a couple of tense seconds he was able to make out a contraption inside of what seemed to be a small container standing on the ground floor of the building. "There's a bomb in the building."

"What? How do you know that?"

"There's a bomb in the building," Matt repeated with more conviction in his voice, not having the patience to argue his point, too focused on several sets of frightened heartbeats. "And multiple hostages."

"Of course there are. God damn it," Tony said over the comm. "How's the bomb set up?"

Clint scoffed, "How would we be able to tell that from out—"

Matt cut him off. "It's some form of container with the acetone peroxide inside it, but it's combined with a lot of electrical components as well? Almost like two separate bombs in one, all housed inside a small container," Matt rattled off, ignoring Clint's wide-eyed look.

"Well that explains their split interest in chemicals and electronics. Considering what they stole, my best guess would be that they've combined a bomb with an EMP. But why they would—" Tony trailed off before breathing out, "oh shit."

"What?"

"That facility you're at? It houses a  _lot_ of my new innovations for healthcare and medicine. A strong enough EMP would be able to fry most of the electronics in the building, including the computers and hard drives. We'd have to redo a lot of the research from scratch; it could set back the release of some products several  _years_."

"Why would they target something that benefits a lot of people? That doesn't make any sense!" Bruce said in a stressed tone.

Tony sighed before saying, "Maybe they want the Merchant of Death to stop pretending to be something he's not…"

"Stop it, you know that's not true," Steve said forcefully.

"I know, I know," Tony said. Matt could hear the lie even over the comm. "But they don't."

"Well, their motivations don't really change the situation at hand. So what do we do now?" Natasha asked, no doubt trying to steer the conversation back on track.

"We focus on getting the hostages out," Matt said firmly.

"And the bomb? What if it goes off?" Steve asked, worry clear in his voice.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it—We have to save the hostages first," Matt said decisively.

"Always so eager to get yourself in trouble," Steve said with a sigh before being silent for a while. When he came back on the comm, he spoke in a commanding tone that left no space for objections. "Alright, Tony will head over your way. He is best equipped to handle the bombs and can fly over on his own. The rest of us will handle the other facilities. Don't do anything  _too_ reckless."

"We'll do our best," Clint said and turned towards Matt who nodded before they both started moving towards the building in silence. The criminals seemed to have locked the personnel in a room on the ground floor, close to where the container containing the bomb was standing.

They had just managed to enter the building through a window when Matt stopped short, tilting his head in concentration as he picked up on a peculiar ticking noise… His eyes widened when he realized what it was.

"Shit, they just activated the bomb. Hurry!" Matt said as he took off towards where he could hear a woman closing the container back up, bomb ticking away inside.

Matt turned around and threw one of his billy clubs at the light bulb in the ceiling. The woman gave a surprised shout as the room was sent into darkness. He could he scattered exclamations of alarm from the rest of the criminals throughout the, but he ignored them in favor of throwing his billy clubs towards two of the closest criminals, satisfied as he heard the resulting grunt as they found their mark, and clearing a way towards the room with the hostages.

"It's pitch dark in here, how can you see anything?!" Clint asked as he stumbled in the direction of the hostages.

"I have my ways—I'll deal with the container, just get them out!"

Matt ran up to the criminal, who was stumbling slightly in the sudden darkness. Matt used the disorientation to his advantage and landed a heavy blow to the woman's sternum, causing her to double over with a gasp.

"Who's there?!" The woman's voice had an accent Matt couldn't quite place, her voice booming in the silence despite being slightly out of breath from the blow. The woman was sturdy and well trained, immediately crouching down into a fighting position and raising her hands in a defensive position.

"Why are you doing this?" Matt asked from the darkness, sensing how the woman swiveled her head to try and get a glimpse of him, but Matt kept moving, making sure that his voice didn't come from one direction for long. "The Chitauri destroyed your job, but you—"

"The Chitauri didn't destroy our livelihood, the Avengers did!" The woman cut him off, swinging a fist into the darkness and missing Matt by a meter. "Tore it to the ground in the fight and didn't even try and help get us back on our feet. They took everything from us! Our jobs and our income! And then they got praised like heroes!"

"And now you want to blow up this facility and ruin even more lives," Matt said in a growling voice. He circled the woman again and spared a moment's focus to listen to Clint and the hostages. They had started making their way outside in silence. The bomb ticked on. It was time to end this.

"I will expose Stark for the hypocrite he is.  _The Merchant of Death_ ," she spat out the words, "shouldn't be allowed to numb his conscience," the woman said with hysteria tinting her voice as she made another mad swing into the empty dark. "With the supplies we stole, The Merchant of Death will be his own downfall. Kind of poetic don't you think?"

"Kind of insane if you ask me," Matt said and took a running start, jumping up in the air and bringing his fist down on the woman's head hard, aiming for her temple, and toppling both of them to the ground. Matt rolled to his feet, raising his hands instinctively and crouching down, but the woman in front of him didn't move.

Matt slowly straightened up and listened to the woman's breathing, almost feeling a tinge of disappointment as he realized that she was unconscious. He immediately shook his head to clear it and turned towards the truck.

Matt wrenched the door to the truck open and kneeled in front of the sole object inside, raising a hand to the comm in his ear.

"Guys? I have the bomb here."  _Tick tick tick_.

"You do? Ask the criminal how to defuse it!" Clint said over the comm.

Matt glanced at the unconscious woman lying outside the truck. "I don't think she's going to be much help right now."

"Should I go back inside?" Clint asked and Matt was slightly horrified that he meant it.

"No!" Tony cut into their conversation. "The bomb can go off at any moment, there's no time. You stay with the hostages. Daredevil, describe it to me."

"Well…" Matt trailed off, trying to make sense of the mess of cables and material in front of him. He crouched down and tilted his head as he took a deep breath to help himself focus.  _Tick tick tick_. "It's square? Fairly big, and there's a lot of wires."

"This is going to go great…" Tony trailed off. "Is there a screen on it? Something that tells how long we've got until it goes kaboom?"

Matt considered lying. "There's a screen, but I can't see any numbers on it." It technically wasn't a lie.

"Well that's not ideal. Can you give me some more info on the bomb itself?"

"Yeah." Matt did his best to describe what he could sense; what the bomb was made of and how many cables there were and how they connected.

Tony muttered frantically under his breath, seemingly talking to himself, but he was too focused on the constant ticking to make anything out.  _Tick tick tick_.

"Cut the blue cable," came the assured answer after several tense seconds.

"Which one!?" Matt growled in frustration. There were several cables and they all seemed basically identical to him. The ticking noise kept distracting him. How long until the bomb detonated? He couldn't make out what the display showed!

"The blue one!"

"Which one is the blue one?!"  _Tick tick tick_.

"Jesus! Just- Just get out of there!"

Matt tried to press down on the frustration rising inside him as he took off running. He would be of no help if he died for nothing. If it was something he was trying to work on, it was knowing his own limits. He had promised Foggy to at least try.

_Tick tick tick._

Matt ran as fast as he could, ignoring the fact that he really shouldn't be able to see where he was going in the darkness surrounding him.

_Tick ti—_

He didn't hear the explosion when it came. Everything just went silent.

* * *

The ringing wouldn't go away. Matt tried to focus through it, but the constant noise made everything appear fuzzy and slightly distorted. After several attempts he finally managed to get to his feet, staggering as his right knee almost gave out. The first step forward revealed that he had multiple bruised or fractured ribs, and a possibly broken arm. He pushed down on his unease at not being able to hear what was wrong with his body, instead relying on simply feeling it. He had been going somewhere before the world went all distorted. He was sure of it. But where? The fact that he hadn't heard that something was wrong with his body before he felt it worried him.

Matt desperately hoped that he wasn't swaying as much as he felt like he did as he walked. He had the distinct feeling that he was supposed to go somewhere. Or away from something? Matt shook his head to try and clear it and immediately regretted the action as the world around him seemed to take that as its cue to tilt sharply to the right, almost sending him sprawling to the ground.

Sounds came and went in dizzying bursts, giving him sudden clarity that immediately dissolved into chaos once again; exasperating his feeling of disorientation.

He could feel a hand land on his arm and he instinctively struck out towards the sudden contact.

"Who's there?"

There was no discernable answer and Matt tried to stay in a crouched position to aid in defending himself, but the hand didn't return. Instead he could make out what sounded like someone talking very far away and he angled his ear towards the sound; hoping for some sort of clarity in all the chaos his world had descended into.

"Cal- do-n."

The words were fragmented and almost quiet enough that he missed them beneath the constant ringing in his ears, as if broadcasted by an old radio on the other side of the block. The heat beside him told him that the person was just a couple of meters away at most, and the air-currents told him that they had their hands raised in a placating manner.

Matt stopped short. In his confusion and panic he had all but forgotten about his other senses; just like he had overcome the loss of his sight mainly by relying on sound, he could overcome the loss of hearing by his remaining senses. He simply had to calm down and focus.

The person beside him didn't move, and so he felt secure in categorizing them as not a threat. Matt took a deep breath.

The smoke and dust in the air almost made him choke. That's when he remembered the explosion.

The person next to him moved and Matt took a step back, stumbling slightly, before his nose picked up sweat, leather, and bow wax.

"Clint," Matt said, or he hoped he did, since he couldn't actually tell if he'd said the name out loud or not. The person, Clint, let out a long breath and moved his head in what Matt guessed to be a nod. He decided that this meant that he had spoken out loud and he took some comfort in that; he still had some form of control over his surroundings. This time Matt didn't flinch when a hand gripped his arm.

"-ou sho-d si- do-n." The distorted voice was back and even if Matt logically knew it belonged to Clint, it didn't make it easier to make out what was being said.

"What?" Matt asked and felt the hand on his arm tighten slightly and the air move as Clint took a quick breath. Had he startled him? Was he screaming? He couldn't tell. He couldn't hear. For the first time Matt was struck by the realization that he  _couldn't hear._  The sense that he relied on the most was gone. The fact that he could feel his heart rate increase at this realization, but not hear it, only made it worse.

Clint renewed the grip on his arm and suddenly he was being steered to the right. The sudden change of direction took him by surprise, and he stumbled as the world went from fuzzy to straight-up spinning out of control.

Clint's hand on his arm gripped him tight and pressed down, forcing Matt into a sitting position. Normally Matt would never allow anyone to manhandle him in such a way, but he found himself unable to resist the motion; he was too focused on keeping himself from throwing up as the world made another dizzying spin.

He landed on the ground with what should have been an audible thud, but only felt as a jolt. Matt leaned back with his lips pressed tightly together and felt relief flood his system as his back connected with something flat and solid. A wall. He could use this to help him get his bearings back. Matt tilted his head back and pressed it against the hard surface while desperately trying to concentrate on making sense of the world around him and not on drowning in the panic threatening to consume him.

Slowly, the fog in his head lifted as the ringing in his ears quieted down slightly, leaving him with a massive headache and a world still slightly out of focus. It wasn't until this point that Matt noticed the warm trickle running down the side of his head. When had he hit his head?

"God," Matt groaned as he bent his head down to place it on his knees, tilted towards where Clint was standing beside him. The movement brought a plethora of smells to his attention and he wrinkled his nose. "Why are we in an alley? It stinks."

This time he could hear it as Clint sat down beside him and gave a short chuckle. He didn't think he imagined the relief he could hear in the laugh. "Welcome back."

"Thanks," Matt muttered as he turned his face against his knees, refusing to raise his head to talk. The world had finally stopped spinning and he intended to keep it that way.

"What did you say?" Clint asked in a rather loud voice.

Matt frowned in slight annoyance and repeated himself, "Thanks."

"I can't hear you, sorry," Clint said in his slightly-too-loud voice and Matt sensed him gesturing towards his ear.

Matt took a deep breath and slowly raised his head, biting down a groan as the world tilted with the motion. "I said 'thanks'. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were hard of hearing?"

Clint shook his head and Matt wished he didn't as the movement only served to throw him even more off balance. "It's okay, it's not something I boast about. The aids got trashed in the explosion. Apparently EMPs and electronics don't mix too well. Who would have figured?" Clint said with a laugh.

_Hearing aids._ That had to be the source of the constant electrical whine that Matt had picked up coming from Clint. Matt almost laughed at the simple, and fairly obvious solution, but thought better of it as he took another deep breath. He briefly furrowed his brow as he tried to place the source of a faint grinding noise before suddenly realizing that it was his own ribs; a fact that didn't bring as much worry as he thought it should. He fought to keep his head upright as he asked, "Is everyone else okay?"

"Yeah, bud. Everyone else is fine."

"Good."

"Can you walk?"

Matt grunted and attempted to stand up, but found that his legs refused to carry him as he fell back down to a sitting position. "No." This time when he touched to ground it seemed to come up to meet him, sending his senses spiraling away.

"It's okay. We will find a way, just- just sit tight for now, okay?" Clint said and then proceeded to raise a hand to his ear only to stop mid-air. "Damn it. I can't use the comm when I can't hear anything. Just hang on tight, all right? Tony should be here any minute now."

"Yeah," Matt said as he finally lost the fight to keep his head upright; letting it hit his knees. "I'm just gonna… rest for a while."

"Daredevil?" Clint asked in a worried tone and Matt could have sworn he felt something touch his shoulder, but he couldn't make out what it was. He couldn't even make out where he was… He frowned slightly as he tried to remember who was talking. "Hey? Daredevil…!"


	4. Chapter 4

Matt felt like he was floating in a black and quiet sea. Then, without warning, sound came back, making him even more confused than before.

"What do you mean you didn't buy eggs?"

"And then she said I was cute, can you believe it?"

"There shouldn't be something green on this, should there?"

"Daredevil, are you okay?"

"This coffee tastes disgusting. Who made it?"

"I think I'm getting sick. You shouldn't hug me."

There was so much noise, so many conversations happening at once and Matt hadn't felt so lost in a long time, not since he was a little child. Not since before Stick.

"Wha—?" Matt asked and felt the sound vibrate through him even as the word seemed to echo in his head. His chest hurt. Everything hurt.

"Hey, Daredevil! You with us?" A voice said, louder than the others, and Matt clung to it desperately; focused on it until the world beyond it started to fade in intensity.

"Daredevil?" The voice was loud enough in his ear that Matt flinched, and then groaned as the movement jostled his body. The room he was in seemed to change shape as he focused on it and he couldn't tell how many people were in it with him, or who they were.

"What did you do?" Matt asked as he raised a slightly shaky hand to his head. The mask was still on. Small mercies, he supposed.

"We gave you some painkillers. You got banged up pretty good," a kind voice said from his right. Matt felt dizzy just trying to focus on him, but he was pretty sure it was Bruce.

"Well, that explains things," Matt groaned.

"We're… sorry? We only wanted to help," came a voice from a bit further away. It was deep and authoritative, yet caring. It had to be Steve.

Matt only grunted in response and took a painful deep breath; definitively a couple of broken ribs.

"Are you okay?" A new voice asked from a chair against the opposite wall. The fog in Matt's head was clearing slightly, and he knew this voice better than the others.  _Clint_.

Matt made a noncommittal sound as he struggled to get his arms underneath him. He felt firm hands press him back down. Curse Steve and his superhuman strength.

"You've got two broken ribs and a pretty bad concussion. You also have multiple shallow lacerations on your left side, and a sprained wrist," Bruce rattled off, seemingly reading from a clipboard in his hands. Or a screen. It was hard to tell.

"Okay," Matt muttered as he pushed the hand away and slowly sat up, breathing deeply and begging the world to come back into its usual focus. It ignored his plea as the room tilted precariously.

"You should probably lie down. We don't know why you seem to be having such an intense reaction to the painkillers," Bruce said in a worried tone.

"Are you allergic or something?" Tony asked and Matt almost flinched. He hadn't realized that he was in the room. How could he not have realized? The man practically screamed his presence with electrical whirrs and electronic heartbeats.

Matt huffed in annoyance and muttered, "Or something."

"Are you okay?" Natasha's voice came from the corner of the room. He hadn't picked up on her presence either. He must really be out of it.

"Not really," Matt said before he brought a hand up to grab at his head, trying to push the throbbing pain back into his brain. "Shit."

"Can we help?" Steve asked worriedly, still hovering too close to Matt's bed.

"No thanks. Just- Just tell me where the elevator is and I'll go home," Matt said and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, planting them on the ground and refusing to acknowledge the room's attempts to flip over its own axis.

"It's right there," Tony's voice said, clearly unhappy about Matt's decision, but not willing to fight him over it. Matt appreciated it.

Matt heaved a deep sigh as he tried to make out the shape of the elevator doors from the surrounding walls and failed. "Where?"

"There," Tony said again, just as unhelpfully as he extended an arm to the right, presumably pointing the elevator out.

"Maybe you shouldn't go home alone," Bruce cut in before Matt could get too annoyed. "Do you have anyone who could pick you up?"

Matt thought about Foggy. The idea to involve him in all this made him frown. "No."

Tony butted into the conversation. "Then maybe one of us shou—"

Matt cut him off. "I'm fine."

Tony raised his hands in mock surrender. "Wow. Watch out for Mister Grateful."

Matt took a deep breath to calm down. "I'm sorry. I just really want to go home."

"Sure," Steve said calmly. "Sure, we understand."

"No, we don't," Tony said in an annoyed voice. "What's wrong with you? We are only trying to help. And it's just painkillers for crying out loud!"

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Matt all but growled. "Thank you for your help, and goodbye."

Matt jumped off the bed and immediately regretted the action; the whole room seemed to come up to meet him as he put his feet down and he staggered.

"Hey, careful!" Clint exclaimed from somewhere close by.

"Why is everything so loud?" Mat mumbled. "I can't see anything."

"What!?" Bruce asked in an agitated voice.

Matt realized what he had just said and attempted to smooth it over as best he could "Nothing, nothing. Everything is just a bit fuzzy."

"Slight dizziness is to be expected after a concussion, but if you have a hard time seeing—"

"Really it's fine," Matt cut Bruce off before stumbling over a chair that he could have sworn was supposed to be half a meter to the right.

"We can see that," Natasha said drily. When had she moved to the other side of the room?

"This isn't going to end well," Bruce said as he took a step in Matt's direction. "Let's keep him here."

"You can't just keep me here," Matt said and started walking in the direction that he hoped the elevator was in, he hoped he walked in a relatively straight line.

"Daredevil! Daredevil, stop!" Clint called out and Matt ignored him. He just wanted to go home.

"Daredevil! There's a wall, stop walki—" Matt suddenly collided with something hard and he stumbled back several steps in surprise. Clint winced and gave a sympathetic, "Ouch."

Matt shook his head, regretted it when the room started spinning even more, and raised a hand in the air slightly, waving it dismissively. "I'm fine."

"Sure," Steve said as he suddenly stood next to Matt. When had he moved? "Sit down."

"No," Matt said and hoped his voice didn't sound as petulant to the others as it did in his own ears.

Steve placed a hand on his shoulder and steered him in the direction Mat guessed the bed was. "It wasn't a question."

Matt muttered under his breath as he sat down.

Steve nodded and stepped back. "Thank you."

Matt sat in silence for a couple of minutes before asking a question that had been bothering him since he woke up.

"What happened to the woman I took down?"

Nobody answered, but the way in which they all looked away— tensing up and holding their breath— told him everything he needed to know.

"She's dead isn't she?"

"Yes. We couldn't save her," Steve said sadly, and the regret Matt could hear in his voice was genuine. It didn't make the realization that he had gotten someone killed any easier. "Everyone else made it out alive."

Matt was silent before turning his head in the direction he hoped Tony was in. "I'm sorry about your electronics."

Tony waved him off. "Nah, it's fine. On the way over I instructed Jarvis to make an off-line back-up copy of all the data at the facility. Sure, all the electronics were fried and it'll take some time to rebuild, but you guys managed to save everything that matters by letting us know about the bomb and the EMP."

Matt furrowed his brows in confusion. It was hard to think while his head insisted on pounding the way it did. "Everything that matters?"

"Yeah, the people that were trapped in the building! And yourself, of course," Tony said before giving a small scoff. "Almost."

There was a sudden hand on Matt's shoulder and he stiffened at the contact before Steve's kind voice reached his ears. "You are allowed to take the mask off, you know. We all know how stuffy it can be in there."

"I'm good," Matt said and brushed the hand off. "Thanks."

"Suit yourself, but just so you know; nobody here would give up your identity. We're well aware of how much can be at stake," Clint said in a casual tone, but Matt's senses had come back enough to let him pick up on how true his words were.

Matt sensed Tony suddenly bending down in front of where he sat, looking intently at Matt's mask. "How are you even able to see out of that thing?"

It would be so easy to tell the truth. To lower the walls and let them in. Instead Matt forced his mouth into a smirk and said, "without a problem."

Tony snorted but backed off with a muttered, "Someday I'm gonna figure out how that suit works."

Matt was grateful for the distance and allowed his tired head to drop into his hands.

"Are you okay?" Clint asked tentatively.

"I'm fine," Matt mumbled into the palms of his hands before he realized who he was talking to.

He heaved a sigh and was just about to raise his head back up to repeat himself when Clint answered. "Funny. I don't believe you."

"I don't need you to believe me," Matt muttered and took notice of the faint electrical buzz coming from the other man. Off course he had gotten his aids fixed as fast as he could, or he had spares ready to go. Matt was satisfied when he noticed that the room seemed more stable now.

"You must have someone you can call. Please. We just want to make sure you get home alright. A concussion is nothing to scoff at," Bruce said.

Matt weighed his options. He could stay in the Tower and be subjected to more of the Avengers worry, he could leave the Tower and risk someone tailing him "for his own good", or he could call Foggy and go home.

Matt sighed and turned towards Tony. "Don't trace my call."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Tony said flippantly and Matt pressed his mouth into a thin line and kept silent. Tony sighed, "I promise I won't."

Matt nodded, satisfied, and fished out his burner phone. Two rings later, Foggy answered with an anxious voice.

"Matt? Are you okay?"

"Hey, are you busy?"  _Please say yes._

"No, why? Has something happened?"

"Nothing serious. But could you maybe…" Matt hesitated. How could he formulate this to alarm Foggy as little as possible? "Come pick me up?"

"Oh my god. My god. You're not fine, are you?"

"I'm okay, I just—"

"Where are you?"

"Avengers Tower."

"... What?"

"Avengers Tower," Matt repeated in a tired voice. "And bring a disguise."

"What is happening!?"

"Just- Can you trust me?"

"... Sure, sure," Foggy said and Matt could hear the other's resigned sight. "But you better have a good explanation for this later."

"I promise," Matt said with as much sincerity as his voice allowed while still pitched low for the sake of hiding his identity.

"I'll hold you to that," Foggy said before he hung up.

Matt lowered his phone and turned his head in Tony's direction.

"Happy now?"

"Not really, no. If you're not gonna die on us, then I have to get back to work."

"Hey," Matt called after Tony's retreating back and the other stopped in front of what Matt guessed was the elevator. "Promise not to scan him, or whatever you do to find out people's identities."

"You really don't trust me, do you?" Tony asked with exaggerated indignation.

"No, not really. And Stark, I'm serious."

"I won't try to find out who he or you are if you don't want me to. Pinky-promise."

Matt was satisfied when he heard that Tony was telling the truth, but it quickly turned into confusion as he realized that Tony had stuck his hand out towards him.

"Huh?"

"Pinky-promise, man! Don't leave me hanging," Tony said with genuine warmth in his voice.

Matt furrowed his brow as he did his best to focus on the hand in front of him. His muddled senses told him that it was swaying slightly from left to right, and he currently had no hope of discerning the details of the hand, so he did the next best thing and stuck his own out in the general direction of Tony's with his pinky finger extended, hoping that his lack of coordination would be chalked up to his concussion.

It seemed to work as Tony hooked their fingers together and gave a small tug before huffing out a small laugh. Maybe this was Tony's slightly strange attempt to try and bridge the gap between them? Matt couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed as the corners of his lips turned up in a small smile.

* * *

Matt did his best to keep a straight face as he made out, even with his senses still out of focus, just how ridiculous Foggy looked when he came to pick him up not even an hour later.

He had tied some sort of cloth around his head; similar in fashion to the mask that Matt himself had used during his first period as Daredevil. Matt furrowed his eyebrows as he made out the rest of the clothes that Foggy had donned— sleeves long enough to cover his hands, fabric stretched over his stomach and sagging over the shoulders, pant legs rolled up. Maybe it  _was_  his old suit.

A startled, "What…?" From Bruce only confirmed his suspicion. Foggy had come to pick him up in the old Daredevil suit.

Matt laughed.

"Oh, I didn't know you could laugh!" Clint exclaimed before turning towards Bruce and Steve. "Did you guys know?"

"That's a nice getup," Matt said to Foggy with a smirk.

"Thanks man," Foggy said in a voice that was unnaturally low pitched, no doubt trying to mimic Matt's way of speaking when he dressed as Daredevil. Or, by the slight laugh in his voice, mocking it.

Matt snorted nevertheless.

"This is priceless!" Clint laughed. "Two Daredevils! It's like the Hollywood version facing down the original!"

Steve did his best to keep a straight face. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Captain America. This is Bruce Banner and Hawkeye."

Matt could hear Foggy almost choke on his own spit as his cheeks heated up. Matt snorted as Foggy's voice left the gravelly tones and went straight for high-pitched nervousness as he said, "Yeah, I'm aware."

Matt decided to take pity on him and asked, "Where did you even find that?"

"Well, you asked me to come in a disguise. It was either going through your stuff and finding this, or coming here dressed as a cherub. You know, from Halloween?"

Hearing those words coming from someone dressed as Daredevil in a low-pitched gravel seemed to be too much for Clint to handle. He clutched his midsection as he folded in two from the force of his laughter. "This dude's too much!"

Natasha chose this moment to enter the room and stopped dead in her tracks. Matt could sense her look from Foggy to Matt and back to Foggy, before finally settle on the gasping Clint. "I take it I missed something?"

"You could say that," Steve answered with amusement tinting his voice. Bruce was chuckling next to where Matt was still sitting. When everyone had calmed down a bit Matt extended his hand towards Foggy in his usual way of asking to be led, and Foggy immediately walked over to where he was sitting, helping him up. Matt was pleased that the room didn't spin as much as it had before. Foggy's stable arm might have something to do with that as well.

"Well, guys, it was nice to meet you but the show is over. I have to take this Daredevil imposter home."

"Yeah, better keep an eye on him," Steve said and lightly clapped Matt on the shoulder. The man had a good grasp on his own strength.

"Will do!" Foggy said with excitement.

Steve stopped short and Matt could hear the other suppressing a laugh as he turned towards Foggy. "Did you just salute me?"

"Yes, sir!" Foggy replied with forced ease. Matt could sense how his friend was dying from embarrassment from the inside. "Have a good day."

Matt decided enough was enough and almost dragged Foggy out of the room, easily finding the elevator this time.


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh, Mr. Stark! How nice to see you again!" Foggy said in an overly cheerful tone and Matt had to stifle a sigh. Not only because his ribs still hurt from the explosion a couple of days ago and would protest the motion, but also because he figured it might be seen as rude to give an exasperated sigh as someone entered your office.

"Heya, Foggy. Is Matt in as well?" Tony asked even as he turned towards Matt's office. Matt did his best to sit up straight in the chair, ignoring the pain in his side, and hoped that Foggy hadn't exaggerated when he said that the damage from the explosion was barely noticeable on his face and neck.

"Yeah, he's in his office," Foggy replied in a slightly strained tone and a voice that was a bit too loud, no doubt in an effort to make sure that Matt heard them.

"Great, great," Tony said with a wave of the hand before marching into Matt's office. "What happened to you?"

Matt's stomach clenched uneasily. Maybe Tony was more observant than he gave him credit for. "What do you mean?" Matt asked in a voice that sounded slightly strained in his own ears.

"Well, you look ready to fall asleep sitting up. Bad night's sleep?" Tony asked flippantly as he sat down on the other side of the table.

Matt did his best to not let the relief show on his face. "I'm fine; just my neighbors redecorating way too late into the night."

Foggy entered the room with three cups of coffee and placed one in front of Matt, one in front of Tony, and took one in hand before leaning on the desk. "You should have seen him this morning, almost asleep on his feet," Foggy said before ending his sentence with a slightly forced laugh.

Matt pressed his mouth into a thin line. Foggy never sounded natural when he lied, but Tony seemed distracted enough that he didn't notice. Or didn't care.

"Well, I hope that sorts itself out."

"So," Matt started, taking a sip from the cup, discreetly using his non-dominant, un-sprained wrist to hold the mug. "Why are you here? I thought we were done with getting your buildings ADA compliant?"

"That's actually why I'm here. Are you free tonight?" Tony asked distractedly as he took a big mouthful from the coffee. It was still scalding hot, but he didn't seem to notice.

Matt frowned and put the cup down. "For what?"

"Well, you guys helped me get my buildings ADA compliant. The least we could do is to take you out for a celebratory dinner."

"We?" Matt asked with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Well, the Avengers. We all learned some important lessons."

Foggy abruptly breathed in a mouthful of coffee and started coughing violently, making both Matt and Tony jump in surprise.

"The- The Avengers want to have us for dinner?"

Tony smiled, a somewhat uncomfortable expression. "Well, we're gonna head out for food tonight anyway, and I figured that you guys could join. Nat and Bruce are away on a mission, and Thor's still caught up in something at home, but I hope that isn't a deal breaker?"

Foggy turned towards Matt and Matt was willing to bet his right arm that the expression on his friend's face was more similar to that of a puppy than a grown man.

Matt wasn't exactly keen on being seen with the majority of the Avengers, but he figured it would be more suspicious if he turned down an invitation to eat together with the whole Avengers team. "Yeah, sure. As long as it's in a fairly quiet and empty restaurant."

Foggy gave a small whoop of joy and pumped his fist in the air.

"Wow, tone down the enthusiasm," Tony said with sarcasm dripping from every syllable, but Matt detected no anger from the other man.

"Well, what can I say," Matt shrugged with a small smile. "I'm not a big fan of crowded places. Or very keen to get caught by the paparazzi and fans that are sure to follow you guys around."

"Okay, I get that," Tony said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But I have several restaurants that I can make sure we'll be alone in. I'll let you know the address and meeting time once I've asked the others what their preferences are."

"Sure."

"Looking forward to it!" Foggy said with the smile distinct in his voice, and damn if it wasn't contagious.

* * *

Matt and Foggy stopped on the sidewalk, facing the Greek restaurant they had been told to meet the Avengers at. The place was fancy, more so than the places they usually ate at, and completely empty of customers. Tony hadn't exaggerated when he said he would make sure they were alone.

"This is the place right?" Foggy asked in a voice conveying equal measures nervousness and doubt. On their way over he had repeatedly asked Matt if Tony had been honest in his invitation, or if he had simply been joking with them. No amount of reassurances from Matt that Tony had in fact been sincere seemed to convince the other.

"This is the place," Matt said as he patted Foggy's arm that he was holding on to. "Relax, they're coming."

"Are you just saying that?"

"No, I'm not. Look behind you," Matt said with an amused tone and Foggy barely had enough time to give a small squeak before the small group of Avengers were making their way over towards where they were standing.

"Matt!" Tony called out, raising a hand in the air. "Good to see you."

"Hello, Tony," Matt said with a smile as the group stopped in front of where he and Foggy stood.

"And Foggy," Tony said with a nod and Matt had no problem envisioning the big grin that bloomed on Foggy's face at the acknowledgement. Tony gave a small laugh before continuing, "Glad you guys could join us."

"Thanks for inviting us," Matt said while discreetly nudging Foggy's side with his elbow, trying to get his friend to at least close his mouth all the way.

"I don't think we've met," Steve said as he extended a hand in their direction. "My name is Steve Rogers."

"Nice to meet you, Steve. I'm Matt," Matt said as he raised his own hand in Steve's direction, shaking his hand while nudging Foggy again as the other still wasn't moving.

Foggy gave a slight start and exclaimed, "And I'm Foggy!" as he almost threw his hand out towards Steve, who chuckled and shook it without comment.

"And I'm Clint," Clint said with laughter evident in his voice, shaking Foggy's hand and then Matt's. As he let go of Matt's hand he stopped short and leaned in slightly, looking intently at Matt's face. "Hey… Have we met before?"

Matt felt himself tense and took a slow breath to calm down— forcing himself to relax. He plastered on a smile and shrugged as he said, "No? I don't think so. I'm not great at remembering faces, though."

"Fair enough!" Clint said with a laugh and Matt felt some of the tension leave his shoulders.

"Great, great, now everyone knows everyone," Tony said with an impatient wave of his hand. "Let's eat."

"I'm not gonna fight you on that!" Clint said happily, leading the way into the restaurant. Matt breathed out a sigh of relief and now it was Foggy's turn to pat him reassuringly on the arm as he led Matt inside.

"We-welcome Mr. Stark," a server said with a stiff bow as they entered, before continuing in a slightly shaky voice, "My na-name is William and-and I'll be your server for the evening. This way, ple-please."

"It's okay, William. We won't bite," Tony said with a smile as he clapped the man on the back.

William stumbled slightly and drew in a breath with a clenched jaw. "Okay, sir."

They arrived at their table and sat down— Matt noticed that Foggy hurriedly sat down in the chair next to Steve and almost laughed out loud as his friend tried to pass it off as a casual action.

"So," William said before clearing his throat and wringing his hands. "Do you want to place your orders now, or wait?"

Matt frowned. William's voice had gone from shaky to almost angry, and he seemed very nervous, even accounting for the presence of the famous Avengers. Then he turned his attention towards Foggy, who was currently coughing and wiping water from his own chin while trying to laugh while Steve patted him awkwardly on the shoulder, and decided that people could do really strange things while in the presence of someone they admired.

"I think we'll wait a while," Tony said with an amused voice as he also looked over at Foggy and Steve. Clint was laughing quietly where he sat to Matt's right.

William nodded and left them alone to look through their menus and settle in. Clint turned towards Matt and clapped him on the shoulder too; no doubt in a bad imitation of Foggy's interaction with Steve. "It's nice to finally meet you, Matt. Tony has been talking about 'these nice lawyers' who're willing to help him not be an asshole."

"Your words, not mine!" Tony interjected with no real anger behind the words.

Matt smiled. He had to admit that it wasn't going as horrible as he had feared it would be. Even out of costume, Tony, Clint and Steve treated him and Foggy like equals. The Avengers may have been a little loud, a little touchy-feely, but kind and caring. Respecting of people in a way he hadn't really counted on.

They ordered their food and it wasn't until they had all started eating, talking and laughing and being sufficiently distracted, that things started to go sideways, because  _of course_  they had to go sideways when the Avengers were involved. William came up to the table, presumably to check on them, and Matt had enough time to once again reflect on his nervousness; fast breathing, elevated heart rate, sweaty palms, holding something  _smelling of lead_.

Even if he hadn't currently been playing his role as the helpless blind lawyer at the moment, he probably wouldn't have been prepared for the hand reaching out for him before it had latched around his throat, dragging him away from the group. Matt grunted in pain as his ribs were jostled and cursed himself as he felt the cold hardness of a gun pressing hard against his temple.

"Stand down or the blind man gets it," the server said, and Matt scrunched his nose at the overwhelming cologne that wasn't entirely able to cover up the smell of sweat. The man's arm trembled slightly against his throat; not tight enough to strangle him, but tight enough to send the message that he  _could_. The man was solidly built and had a strong grip, but Matt was fairly certain that he could take him down without much problem.

"It's okay," Matt said in a slightly strained voice against the grip around his throat.

He heard Foggy take a trembling breath, the other's pulse echoing in Matt's own ears. "I know you can't see it, bud, but you have a gun to your head."

"I am well aware, thanks," Matt said with a half-smirk half-grimace on his face.

"Stop talking!" The man screamed as he pressed the gun harder against Matt's temple. He could practically taste the anxiety rolling off Foggy and the Avengers.

Steve raised his hands in a placating manner, clearly at least somewhat used to handling hostage situations. Matt was thankful — maybe he could get out of this without revealing his secret identity. Steve spoke in a calm voice, "What do you want?"

"I want you all to raise your hands where I can see them!"

They all complied.

"Now step back!"

At first no one moved, but the server jabbed the gun at Matt's temple again and he couldn't keep a small wince from slipping out as his head throbbed at the blow. The Avengers all took a hesitant step back.

"Now," the server continued in a high-strung voice that practically screamed panic that made the hair on the back of Matt's neck stand on end. A panicked person was bound to make irrational decisions. Like shoot someone. "Where is my sister?"

"…What?"

"My sister!"

Matt suddenly recognized the strong built and the accent. The slightly familiar heartbeat. "Your sister was one of the people who tried to blow up Stark's development facility here in New York."

"She wouldn't really hurt anyone! She's desperate, and you stopped her, right? Nobody even got hurt! If someone deserved to get hurt, it's you guys. After all the pain you have caused…!"

"How did you know — ?" Clint muttered.

"I'm sorry to say that your sister is dead," Matt said in a tone that was as level as he could make it with an arm around his neck.

He could feel the man behind him startle and then tighten his grip around Matt. "You're lying!"

"No. I'm sorry. She died a couple of days ago while trying to set off a bomb in central New York. But you already knew that, didn't you? You just want revenge."

"She wouldn't do that! She can't be— You're lying!"

Matt felt the way the man's arm tensed, and immediately brought his own hand up to grab the server's gun hand and redirect it to point at the roof. The gunshot was earsplitting, and Matt recoiled instinctively and tried to get his bearing as the room swam in residual noise.  _Not this again_.

"What—?" Clint breathed out.

Matt didn't spare them any more focus as he slammed his head back against his assailant's and heard a satisfying crack as it connected with his nose. He could taste the blood in the air as he grabbed the man's arm and threw him over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground with enough force to rattle the plates on the nearest table.

Matt shook his head to get rid of the ringing noise in his ears and was met with a silent room, except for the moaning man on the floor.

"What just happened? Did you guys see that?" Clint asked in a shrill voice and Matt could sense all of the Avengers staring at him as he straightened back up.

"I couldn't wait for you to save me," Matt said as nonchalantly as he could while he bent down and plucked the gun from the man's hand.

Foggy stood up from where he had been crouching with his hands over his head and Matt could hear his quick breathing and feel him shaking from several meters away. "Matt! Damn it! Don't scare me like that!"

"But… What…?" Steve asked in confusion, looking from Matt, to Foggy, to the man on the floor, and back.

Matt sighed and pitched his voice low. "I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you guys."

For the first time in a long while, Matt wished he could see so that he could take in their expressions.

He could sense that Clint had a huge grin on his face though. "Oh my god!"

"Why did you tell him that his sister was dead? He almost shot you!" Foggy asked in an exasperated tone.

"He deserved to know the truth," Matt said with a shrug.

"Maybe under better circumstances?" Tony butted in with a snarky tone.

"Yeah, maybe. We all made it out okay, right?"

"I guess so," Tony huffed. Clint was still grinning.

"Holy shit I did not see that coming!" Clint said with a laugh that was equal parts relieved and equal parts incredulous. "You're telling me that you have been hanging around Tony for the last couple of weeks as a lawyer and he didn't have a clue that you were also Daredevil?"

"I had no reason to suspect that the  _blind lawyer_  suing me would also be a known vigilante, now did I?!" Tony snapped as he tapped on something attached to his wrist and within seconds Matt could hear the sound of sirens turning on a couple of blocks away.

"So none of you suspected him of being Daredevil, and you were just gonna stand there when an unstable server took my friend hostage?!" Foggy asked incredulously, and even if the Avengers couldn't, Matt heard the small note of real anger in Foggy's voice. "You almost got a blind man shot!"

"Are you really blind?" Tony blurted out.

Matt sighed.  _Here we go again_. "Yes."

"How? How do you do what you do?" Tony asked with undisguised curiosity.

Foggy gave a quiet snort and elbowed Matt in the ribs. "See? I'm not the only one who has a hard time believing you."

Matt swatted at his friend. "Let's not bring that up right now."

"Sorry, we didn't mean to question you," Steve said with a pointed look in Tony's direction. "It's just fascinating."

"I understand. It's alright," Matt said with a small smile.

"Wait!" Clint exclaimed and leveled an accusing finger at Foggy, who tensed up at the sudden exclamation. "You were that B-version of Daredevil that came to Avengers Tower!"

Steve took a step closer to Foggy and looked him up and down before giving a huffing laugh. "He is! Nice to meet you again."

Matt could feel the heat radiating off Foggy's face as he cleared his throat. "Yeah, haha. That was me!"

"Thank you for that, man!" Clint laughed out as he clapped Foggy on the back, making him stumble slightly. "That was the funniest thing I've seen in years."

"Glad I could help," Foggy muttered out as he looked down at the ground, but Matt could hear the amusement in his voice.

The conversation was brought to a halt as the man on the floor gave another moan and tried to sit up before Tony pushed him back down.

"By the way, how did he," Clint said with a nod towards the man on the floor, "know where we were going tonight?"

"Well, you're not exactly invisible," Foggy said with a good amount of irony in his voice. "He could have easily been waiting outside the Tower and followed us here."

"I have to update my security…" Tony muttered. "Well, I've called the police. They should be here any minute to take care of our little fan here. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who lost my appetite for Greek food? How about some pizza in the Tower?"

"Yes!" Foggy screamed out before his face exploded in a blush. "I mean, it would be nice to visit and actually see something."

"Yeah, you don't have to put a dusty scarf over your face this time," Clint said as he slung an arm over Foggy's shoulders. "But honestly, if you wanna do impressions again, I will  _not_ stop you."

* * *

They all sat around a big dining table on what Matt was fairly certain was Tony's private floor of the Avengers Tower, happily passing the pizza boxes around the table.

"Soooo… Mr. Lawyer," Clint said through a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

"Please, don't," Matt said with a small laugh as he grabbed a slice of the mushroom pizza. "Call me Matt."

This earned him a big, genuine, smile from Clint who nodded hard enough to drop some of the pizza in his hand on the table. He didn't seem to care or notice as he continued, "If you insist! So, what are the limits on your  _abilities_ , Matt? Would be good to know so that we don't put you in front of any more bombs in the future."

"That would be for the best," Matt agreed with a small smirk. "I have no light perception, so I can't read ordinary text in paper or a screen or any other surface," Matt said before pausing with a thoughtful expression. "Unless the ink is thick enough, or the words are indented enough for me to make out."

"Dude. How sensitive are your other senses?" Clint asked in an awed voice.

Matt smiled. "Pretty sensitive."

Tony waved his hand to get their attention again, before freezing when he seemingly realized what he had done. "Does that work? Waving and stuff?"

Matt nodded. "Yes, it's fine. I can hear your arm displacing the air."

"We have to book a date in the lab someday so I can run some tests. Wait…" Tony trailed off, putting down the slice in his hand and leaning forward in his chair to look at Matt with narrowed eyes. "Is your suit even enhanced?"

Matt made a vague motion with his hand and Foggy snorted out loud before speaking up from where he sat beside him at the table. "It's not! He basically uses a pair of skintight pajamas."

Matt gave a short laugh. "That's not true! The new one is very durable."

"So there're no electronics in it or something like that to help you navigate?" Steve asked with slight wonder in his voice.

Matt shook his head. "No, it's just a suit."

"Right. Now back to my questions," Tony said. "Your abilities. No written stuff and no screens. What else?"

"Not a lot else actually. I can miss some subtle facial expression, but the body usually betrays emotions better than the face anyway."

"The body…?" Steve asked in a voice that trailed off into uncertainty.

Matt nodded. "Yeah. I can hear the blood flow and the heart rate of the person I'm talking to. Really useful when I need to tell if someone is lying. Or about to shoot me."

"That's… quite unsettling," Steve admitted.

"Kind of creepy," Clint agreed with a nod and Tony hummed in agreement.

Matt smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "You asked."

Foggy laughed. "See! I'm not the only one who's slightly creeped out!"

Matt turned to his best friend with his most pathetic pout in place. "I almost got shot today, you have to be kind to me."

Clint broke into laughter. "Oh my god! I never thought I would see Daredevil pout!"

Foggy joined in the laughter. "And he's really good at it!" He turned towards where Matt was still pouting, even as the corners of his lips where starting to twitch upwards, and shook his head with another laugh. "God, I'm sorry Matty, please stop that!"

Matt chuckled and patted Foggy on the back before turning back to the Avengers. "Well, we managed to get through a whole dinner this time around. Now what?"

"Now we drink coffee! I'm in dire need of some caffeine," Clint said as he jumped up from the table.

Tony perked up. "Oh, me too! Bring the whole pot over!"

"An overly caffeinated Tony Stark? That's the last thing we need," Clint muttered under his breath as he grabbed the packet of decaf and started preparing the coffee.

Matt snorted out a laugh and Steve looked up from where he was stacking the empty pizza boxes with a confused, "What?"

"Oh my god!" Clint called out in glee. "You heard that!?"

"Heard what?" Tony asked as he looked from Matt to Clint and back.

"Nothing, nothing," Matt said with a smile as he waved them off. "Just Clint being a good friend."

"Are lawyers allowed to lie?" Clint asked innocently as he took a seat at the table again, the coffee puttering away in the background.

"You're not very good at playing along, are you?" Matt asked in an amused tone.

"So I've been told," Clint said with a shrug.

Steve shook his head in apparent exasperation and cleared his throat to gain their attention. "So how do you see then? Is it okay if I ask that?"

"It's okay, I figured you would, sooner or later," Matt said before pausing in thought. It was always hard to describe it so other's understood. "I compensate with my other senses; sound, smell, shifts in air currents, and heat, among others things. Together they create a kind of… impression of the world."

"So you can tell everything that's going on around you in all directions?" Tony asked with a small tilt of the head. "That's sure to be convenient!"

Matt nodded. "Well, yes. It's great for a lot of things, but I still can't  _see_."

Clint shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. "Still pretty cool."

"I guess," Matt said with a wry smile. "What now? Now that you know who I really am?"

Clint shrugged. "Well, nothing really has to change, does it? You have our card so let's meet up if—" Clint cut himself off. "Oh no. We gave you a regular paper card. You couldn't read that, could you?"

"Nope," Matt said, popping the p. "But I have a translator."

Foggy raised a hand in the air, "That's me!"

"That's great," Clint laughed. "Still, sorry for assuming that you could, you know, see," Clint said with a slightly awkward tone of voice. "I feel like I somehow failed as a fellow human with a disability."

Matt waved him off. "I just take it as a compliment that I hid it well enough not to be caught."

"You don't have to hide it in front of us, you know? Not anymore," Steve said in a serious tone.

Matt smiled. "I guess not."

"So!" Tony said loudly as he clapped his hands once, brining all the attention in the room to him. "I'm pretty sure this calls for a celebration of some sort! What about a party?"

"Thanks Tony, but no. We should get going, right Foggy?"

"Yeah, Matty's right. Some of us have office jobs to get to tomorrow, and  _some of us_ almost got shot today and should go to bed early," Foggy said with a pointed look in Matt's direction, which he ignored.

Instead Matt smiled and started to stand up from the table, "I agree with half of that statement."

"Whoa, hold your horses!" Clint exclaimed and Matt froze where he stood.

"What?"

"You're not getting out of here until after we've had our coffee," Clint said and Matt could hear the smile in his voice.

Foggy nodded in agreement. "Coffee sounds good right about now."

"But we—"

"Jarvis, don't let Matt or Foggy out of here until they've had at least one cup of coffee," Tony said in a voice that was a bit too serious to be fully joking.

"Yes, sir," the voice of Jarvis came from a speaker nearby and Matt slumped back down in the chair with a small laugh.

"Okay, okay. I give up. I know when I'm beaten."

Foggy snorted. "No, you don't. But I trust that you guys will have his back?"

"Yes," Steve said, and his voice was definitely too serious to be mistaken for a joke. "We will."

"Definitely! He won't get rid of us now!" Clint chimed in. Tony nodded with an affirmative hum.

"You hear that, Matt? I'm sorry to say that you're stuck with these  _professionals_ watching your back from now on."

Matt ducked his head to hide the smile that crept over his face as he realized that he had unintentionally ended up in the middle of the Avengers, and that he didn't mind it at all. "I think I'll manage."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it as much as I liked writing it :)
> 
> Once again, check out the amazing artwork [goss](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16582172) made to accompany this story!


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